To think that the litter on our roads has got to ridiculous levels?

[inigomontoyahwillcox]

Maybe it's just where I live (NW Essex - M11, A11 are my usual major roads) but the amount of litter on the motorways, dual carriageways, and A roads is just crazy! It feels like we're living in a country with minimal infrastructure. It became very clear yesterday during the high winds not only how bloody awful it looks, but also dangerous it is in high winds (we had some litter hit our windshield).

I understand it's hard to collect litter from verges and central reservations due to the traffic, but we seemed to manage in the past (and other countries seem to deal with it) - or has littering/dumping gotten out of control? Where does it all come from anyway? Are people just throwing it out of their windows?!

I don't see it any worse than it has been for years, except during part of 2020. I think the issue started when a lot of litter bins were removed at the time the IRA and INLA were planting bombs in England.

It’s been getting steadily worse for years and it never gets cleaned up it. I think some people become blind to it and others think nothing of adding to it. I live near a river and it’s also full of rubbish.
its so sad.
often when I go to other countries I’m shocked by how clean and tidy the roads and waterways are, because I’ve become so used to how shitty ours are.

Yep people need to teach their dc not to litter

I've said this before.

We live half way up a dead end remote valley Scotland.

Every farmer, wife, kids, workers do a road litter pick every month, followed by a shed bbq and drinks.

It's obscene the amount we get. The nearest McDonald's is an hour away, Costa same. Yet it's a massive issue.

Smashed glass, used condoms, burnt areas of grass, dog poo, dog poo bagged and tied to trees, don't get me started on gates.

Anyway the large majority have concluded its delivery drivers and large group walkers, because in fairness, we have a right to roam and we have some lovely, lovely walkers.

Fairly rough valley, nothing hugely exciting, yet the litter!

Well if adults who should know better think dumping rubbish like that is fine well thays on them. Noone else's fault, its not fault of having litter pickers or not enough bins. I mean ffs keep the rubbish in your car until you get home.
Or if your walking take it home with you god its not that hard to do and dump it when you find a bin.

Sorry but I think anyone dropping litter has zero excuse. There just isn't any excuse for it.

I'm part of a litter picking group in my seaside town. The things we pick up most are McDonalds/Costas packaging, energy drink cans, NOS creamers, smoking and vaping litter and dog poo. The fast food packaging is over 50% of it.

There’s a stretch of roadside verge near me, which I have litter picked for twenty-five years. When the Tour d France passed though a few years ago, there were a lot of people lining that stretch of road. A few days later, I did my litter pick. I get the mentality of ‘chuck it and leave it’ ( don’t agree, but ok). What I couldn’t get my head around, was those who had very neatly bagged their rubbish, then left it ‘out of sight’ behind a tree, for the ‘litter fairy’, ie. moi to pick up ?

If someone dumps rubbish thr put isometric should be a group of people coming and dumping rubbish in their garden or house
lets see how they like it having their own personal environment littered...bet they would hate it right

Hmmmmm I’ve lived in one of the richest countries on earth (per capita) and the litter there was also awful. Why? Because the attitude it was someone else’s job to clear it up - usually imported labour from a poor country. The government was trying hard to educate via schools on protect the environment and we did hear stories of children telling their parents off for dumping rubbish out the car window.

BBC radio Suffolk ran a great campaign called 'Don't be a Tosser', maybe 5 or 10 years ago.

It obviously highlighted the issue with humour and I believe it was quite successful. (There were car stickers available too 😁.)

The radio station was talking about it last weekend as the issue is more noticeable again. It would be good to get it back, but maybe as a national campaign!

Longwhiskers, that attitude is prevalent in fast food places - people get up from the table leaving the rubbish strewn all over. Their attitude seems to be very much that it's someone else's job to clean up after them.

Sybe we should have David Sedaris as 'litter Czar'

People who don't clear their table in fast food joints are slobs and people who leave fag butts on the ground

It’s not a new problem. I’ve been litterpicking in our small village for a decade and more. Years ago a team were surfacing our road and while I chatted to him a driver was throwing used tissues out of the window.

Fining is the real answer. I’ve taken addresses, number plates and credit card details from litter and passed them on to various authorities but nothing is ever done.

What might also work is if on a certain day we all collected up takeaway rubbish, sorted it and bagged it and took it into the respective outlets and politely said it was theirs and could they dispose of it because we are sick of having to clear it up unpaid. Photos of bin bags full of Costa cups being ‘returned’ posted on FB etc.

Yes to David Sedaris!And Bill Bryson has been very vocal about how our beautiful country is being trashed.Please everyone let's contact as many agencies as we can.Local radio as someone said, MPs ,department of the Environment. The large fast good organisations Anyone you can think of.Let's push for a huge clean up and campaign to shame those responsible.

Yes, ds used to bring wrappers home

We lived in Germany for years. You could drive for hours and not see a single scrap of litter anywhere.

Now we’re in America and there’s a disgraceful amount of litter everywhere. I’m forever picking stuff up and walking it to the nearest bin.

I would call anyone who litters a fucking animal, but I actually think most animals are cleaner.

Often wonder what people coming into the country think too - expecting this green and pleasant land, only to be presented roads that resemble a rubbish dump. Hardly doing much for tourism is it.

Some good thoughts on here. I'm all for a new Keep Britain Tidy campaign - it seems like the littering culprits are many and varied, so I can only think of educating/pleading to their better nature as a possible solution (well, not solution, but improvement hopefully). Remove the tax relief on takeaway vs eat-in as someone mentioned and ring fence the funds for sorting the mess out. Identify culprits if possible and make an example of them - particularly thinking of HGV drivers throwing their piss filled bottles out of the window 🤢) - name and shame/fine the company they're driving for.

All political parties care about is making sure there is enough money to cover their “expenses” three course “business” meals no one cares about the actual state of the country.

I was recently in NI and had several random conversations, one was that I said it’s lovely driving through the republic, beautiful greenery, the sides of the roads clean, tidy, no pot wholes, then all of a sudden you know your in the north, you don’t need a sign because you know your in England. Another person said the only way any pot holes were dealt with in their area was because absolutely everyone would tag their local politician in any complaints, he got pissed off and put the link for any pot hole damage claims on fb, suddenly the council fixed them all.

Tonight I was starting to worry I was driving behind a drunk driver who was swerving all over the road, it took me a minute but I realised he was swerving as many pot holes as possible. I ended up following him to save my car.

Dear God I had the exact same thought today driving home from work. The B4067 heading north to the Swansea valley is shameful. The litter along the verges is at a grotesque level - not just a slovenly dropped bag of litter, but instead what looks like miles of garbage.

Shameful, embarrassing and negligent.

I live in a village in the SE UK. We have a Tesco express. They keep their rubbish in open metal cages,it blows into our garage. My DH goes out weekly, just our road with a metal grabber, gloves, trolley. There's take away containers, Costa cups, nearest one is several miles away. We have a container for clothes, people fly tip next to it,all sorts of stuff. Been going on the 12 years we've lived here.along the A27 is shocking. None of my DKs or DGKs walk along outside eating and drinking. I was walking across a Sainsbury's car park one day, woman opened the passenger side door,threw out a bag of rubbish, right near me. I picked it up, said you dropped this. She replied "er,no" and they drove off!

Fast food companies make £billions and yet take no responsibility for the harm caused by the litter and plastic by products of their industry. Any other business is required to have a plan to prevent contamination and waste from entering the environment. So if MacDonalds wrappers, KFC, Costa, Starbucks, water and soft drink bottles , beer cans are found, those companies should be fined the cost of remediation and clear up. If they can't guarantee that their shit won't end up in our roads and rivers then the business should not be allowed to trade. All containers should be biodegradable as a bare minimum but I think the big producers of the crap should be taxed or fined or otherwise made to take some responsibility for the clean up, and not just make huge profits at the expense of the planet without any accountability whatsoever. If they sell to irresponsible customers then they should be educating their customers or not allowing anyone to take litter off the premises. We are drowning in the growth of takeaway outlets they are a scourge. I don't know why government doesn't legislate to make the big companies pay to clear up the mess they create.

I'm all for a national Mumsnet campaign to clean up our country!

It’s a lack of civic pride. There was a time when people were proud of their villages/ towns/ countries. Less so these days, because of the economic outlook and over a decade of govt leadership modelling “me first”. People still care, but less about the community and more about themselves.